In a pharmaceutical field, a preparative purification system using a liquid chromatograph is used for the purpose of collecting samples for storing various compounds obtained by chemical synthesis as libraries or analyzing various compounds in detail. As such a preparative separation system, systems described in Patent Document 1 and 2 are known.
In the preparative purification systems described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, target components (compounds) in a sample solution are introduced into separate trap columns for each target component and captured once, by being temporally separated with a liquid chromatograph. Thereafter, a solvent (elution solvent) is allowed to flow through each trap column to elute the target component captured in the column, thereby collecting a solution containing the target component in a container (collection container), and each solution is subjected to evaporation and dryness process to remove the solvent, thereby recovering the target component as solid matter. By recovering the target component as solid matter in this way, the storage and transportation are easily performed.
The evaporation and dryness process is generally carried out by a method such as heating or vacuum centrifugation of the recovered solution. The solution collected in the recovery container contains the elution solvent and a mobile phase used for capture in a trap column. Although an organic solvent is usually used for the mobile phase, in some cases, water or a solution containing water as a main component may be used. When moisture is contained in the mobile phase, since it takes time for evaporation of water, there is a need for several hours to one day in the evaporation and dryness process.
On the other hand, when the recovered target component is used, the solidified target component may be dissolved in the solvent again and used in a solution form. In such a case, it is possible to drastically shorten the time required for the recovery process of the target component, by recovering and using the target component as a solution, without performing the evaporation and dryness process in the preparative purification system.
Patent Document 1: JP-A-2003-149217
Patent Document 2: International Publication WO 2009-044425